


the end of everything

by MavenMorozova



Series: the beginnings of hope [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a happy (ish) ending, Betrayal, Blood and Injury, Broken Promises, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Heavy Angst, Love, Order 66, Post-Order 66
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23960296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MavenMorozova/pseuds/MavenMorozova
Summary: Ahsoka finds herself in the midst of Order 66, and works to free Rex from the command. They must find a way to survive physically and emotionally in the new galaxy.Spoilers for TCW S7E11: Shattered.
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Original Clone Trooper Character(s), Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CT-5597 | Jesse & CT-7567 | Rex, CT-5597 | Jesse & Original Clone Trooper Character(s), CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker (background)
Series: the beginnings of hope [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2081694
Comments: 15
Kudos: 120





	1. good soldiers follow orders

**Author's Note:**

> I don't actually ship rexsoka that much, but I thought it would be fun to give myself a challenge! so here we go. obviously, spoilers for episode 11, which is where this fic starts off!  
> I've written this for the Hogwarts Online OWLs (Spring 2020) with the prompt _love conquers all_
> 
> EDIT: HELL YES I SHIP REXSOKA!!!!

“It just feels wrong,” Ahsoka remarked to Rex as they stood side by side on the ship’s bridge, facing the front window. The ship was traveling through hyperspace the bright blue bursts of warped time infusing a sense of calm into Ahsoka. “Maul’s captured, we’re about to turn him in. I’m about to see Anakin. Doesn’t everything seem a little-- _ too _ perfect?”

“You did your duty, Ahsoka,” was Rex’s only response, his arms crossing in front of him. He smiled at her. “Maybe it’s been too long since you experienced a victory.”

“Well,” Ahsoka said, feeling her lips curve upward reluctantly, “I do know that there is at least one thing wrong here.” Her smile faded away as the thought fought its way to the forefront of her mind. “As a Jedi, we were trained to be keepers of the peace, not soldiers. But ever since I’ve been a padawan, that’s all I’ve been.”

Rex frowned, his metal-gloved knuckles brushing her fingers as he lowered his arms. “That’s all I’ve ever been,” he said matter-of-factly. “I’ve never known anything else. Us clones--we feel apprehensive about this whole war. But without it…” he sucked in a breath. “We wouldn’t exist.”

Ahsoka bit her lip as she looked up at him, her eyes then falling to his hand where it lay limp at his side. She took it after a moment’s hesitation, finally giving it a gentle squeeze. “At least something good came out of this war, then,” she said, bringing Rex’s hand to her lips in a light brush.

“It’s fine,” Rex continued. “It’s what I’m used to. It’s just that--I know there’s more to life than just mindless shooting.”

“I know,” Ahsoka murmured, leaning forward into his strong embrace. “After this war, you and I can go far away from here--maybe somewhere in the outer rim--”

“If I make it through,” Rex reminded her.

Ahsoka scoffed. “Of course you will. We both will.”

“And I’ll protect you, no matter the cost,” Rex added, kissing the top of her forehead. Ahsoka smiled into his armor, relishing their silent moment together.

“Commander Rex?”

They broke apart. A clone officer, Jass, stood on the bridge awkwardly. “We have a new briefing.”

“You wanna come?” Rex asked Ahsoka, still holding her hand. She shook her head, letting go. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s more good news.”

He smiled at her and turned away, the two clones leaving Ahsoka alone on the bridge, staring into hyperspace.

In the moment when she thought she had finally found peace, she heard voices. Ahsoka closed her eyes and reached out into the Force, feeling through its vibrations to where a vergence met its fate as a shatterpoint, exploding in the space-time continuum.  _ Oh _ , she thought, realization bursting through her with a sinister force. She heard the voices of the Chancellor, Anakin, and Master Windu, saw a great glass window shatter and lightsabers--red, blue, purple--slash through the air, and blinding Sith lightning follow it. And on top of it all, she felt it. Her old master’s anguish lit the proceeding silence, pulsing through her like an ache.

“ _ What have I done? _ ” Anakin Skywalker, fallen Jedi, asked the indifferent universe, falling to his knees.

Ahsoka’s eyes flew open. “Anakin,” she whispered. She felt a sick sense of foreboding in front of her, a thick fog which she could not penetrate. Ahsoka turned around, rushing across the bridge, determined to tell Rex what she’d seen, what they needed to do, but she saw that he was already standing there. But no--something was wrong. Rex was stiff, his expression tight as his cut jaw wavered. His whole body seemed to be locked in some sort of odd stance that Ahsoka had never seen.

She felt the Force shift around her--two clones, their helmets painted to match her facial markings, approaching her silently, blasters out of their holsters, raised to shoot. Ahsoka’s brow furrowed. Jesse was one of them.  _ What was going on? _

“I’ll do it!” Rex intoned sharply, his voice, like his expression, unfamiliar. He gritted his teeth and raised shaking arms into the air, a blaster in each hand. “Stay back!” he shouted, eyes on Ahsoka, pleading with her, almost. A single tear slipped down his cheek as his face twisted in pain, the expression making Ahsoka’s heart twist.

“Rex?” she asked, confused.

“Ah--no!” Rex screamed, perhaps to himself, as his finger pressed down on the trigger. Ahsoka ducked, and the blast pinged off the opposite wall, just barely missing the transparisteel of the bridge’s viewport. “Rex!” she yelled, rushing towards him.

“NO--stay away--find,” he gasped and let out a groan as he struggled to hold himself in place. “--FIVES! FIND FIVES!”

Ahsoka’s eyes widened and she ran, nearly catching one of Jesse’s blasts.  _ How could he? How could Rex? _ They were not themselves--something was terribly wrong.

She stumbled around the corner of the corridor to find herself faced with more clone troopers, their blasters raised, just as it had been on the bridge. Ahsoka pulled out her lightsabers, activating them immediately, the blasts from the clones ringing around her as they bounced off her blades.

She barely made it out. The troopers had clustered around her, backing her into a corner, when she spotted a slight gap. Ahsoka burst through, a laser blast singeing her arm as she ran again, finally finding shelter in the medbay and sealing the door behind her.

***

“What’s this?” Ahsoka breathed as she viewed Fives’s file. There was a recording from Rex there in the bowels of the file, his blue holo figure bringing tears to Ahsoka’s eyes. His handsome face showed none of the broken hostility it had back on the bridge, when he’d tried to kill her. He was worried and apprehensive, sure, but not...like  _ that _ . Ahsoka felt a sob breach her throat as she listened to his words.

“...didn’t believe him when he first started talking about it,” holo-Rex was saying. “But he seemed so paranoid, I knew I had to report this anyway, and besides, at this point...I think he wasn’t just freaked out by some anomaly. I believe, as Arc Trooper Fives believed, that the inhibitor chips of the clones have another purpose than just ensuring loyalty.” His nose wrinkled slightly at the word, as if he respected the term, but hated its application in this situation. Ahsoka wondered for a brief moment if Rex had ever considered the clones to be slaves. Then the moment passed, and Rex was speaking again.

“The circumstances of Fives’s death make it all the more suspicious--I had to report as much as I could of what he knew. But I think--I think he knew more. That’s all that I have.”

The holo clicked itself off. Ahsoka stared at the file numbly, her brain seemingly blank. The clones were compromised--by their makers? By the Sith lords? By the Republic? And Rex--was he, the man whom she’d grown up with--the man she was sure she loved--was he still in there? Somewhere?

Just then, the door to the medbay gave a loud screech. Ahsoka whirled around. She was sure she’d secured it--only someone beyond clever could have--

Commander Rex stood in the doorway, panting. His chest plates bobbed up and down as he caught his breath and eyed Ahsoka once more with that awful blank stare. He walked slowly towards her, blasters leveled, and Ahsoka found herself backing up, lightsabers lit in her grasp.

“Rex,” she breathed. “This isn’t you. Stop. I know you’re in there--somewhere--” She sliced each of the blasters with her saber meticulously in a sudden movement, miraculously avoiding Rex’s plated hands. He lunged for her still, hands groping towards her throat.

“Good soldiers--follow--orders--” Rex croaked, a desperate expression upon his countenance, eyes crazed. “You’re a Jedi. You-- _ have _ \--to die.”

That was it. But she  _ wasn’t  _ a Jedi any longer. “Rex,” she tried to calm him, placing her hands around his, which were still wrapped tighly around her throat. “I left--the--Order.” Ahsoka let out a grunt, feeling her face go slightly numb. “I’m not a Jedi!”

Rex’s eyes bulged, and suddenly, his hands were gone. Ahsoka massaged her throat warily, but Rex seemed to have dropped all intentions of killing her. “Rex?” she asked tentatively. “Are you...okay?”

His head snapped so that his blazing eyes met hers. “ _ Good soldiers follow orders. _ I have to kill all the Jedi! I have to make sure they’re all dead!” he yelled with a rage that wasn’t his own. “And you, Tano, will help me. Or you  _ will  _ die like the rest, make no mistake.”

Ahsoka cringed at the use of her last name coming from her beloved’s mouth. “Rex, it’s me,” she said to him softly. “Ahsoka. Your love.”

“My...love,” he echoed quietly. “My...love.”

Ahsoka stepped towards him, her heart pumping quickly as she raised on hand to his scarred face, tacing his sharp cheekbone and jawline. “I love you,” she whispered, before pressing her lips softly to his. “Don’t let them take that away.”

Rex froze as their lips met. He’d only lived, perhaps, ten years outside of the growth chambers. He’d been trained for battle, not anything else. He’d always loved Ahsoka, their love blossoming into something pure and greater as they both went through the war together, but he’d never dared-- _ she’d _ never dared--

He sighed as their lips melted together, holding Ahsoka tight in his arms. When they broke apart, he told her the same. “I love you, too,” Rex murmured. A second later, he felt a sharp stab, and barely registered a metal needle that had been stuck in his arm. Rex’s body went limp, and he collapsed in Ahsoka’s arms, his mind fading to a blank bliss. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Ahsoka’s pained orange face and blue-and-white montrals swimming in his vision. Then all went black.


	2. the inhibitor chip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! today's chapter is a little longer than the first one, and after that there are only two chapters left!! This is a rather short fic overall, but it's mainly about the fallout of Order 66 so i didn't want it to be too drawn out! Thanl you for all the comments on chapter on2, they made my day!

Ahsoka worked quickly and diligently, her nimble fingers not squicking away from the scalpel that currently dug into Rex’s head at an odd angle, leaving beads of blood behind. The scanner in front of her indicated that the chip he’d mention in the report about Fives was not too deep from the point where she’d broken skin, but she couldn’t be sure.

“Hold on, Rex,” she said to the silence, which was slowly growing louder. Ahsoka had shut the door to the medbay, but she could hear the footsteps of the other clones outside in the corridor. Rex had engaged her in combat, or so they thought, so for now she was safe, right?

With a final click, the chip clicked onto the magnet that Ahsoka had stuck into Rex’s head, bloody clots dripping from it. Sneering in disgust, Ahsoka held the chip far at arm’s length and placed it onto the counter with a little flick. She took the needle she’d laid out at Rex’s side, piercing his skin, in and out, until the thread had sealed the cut there. It was truly too bad that there was no med droid to help them. Ahsoka could have used its help, but she was sure that the droids capable of ministering medical aid had been disabled with the command given to all the clones--what had they called it? It must have been given during the “briefing” that Rex had gone to. Ahsoka thanked the Force that she’d not come too, or perhaps she would not have escaped.

“Rex?” Ahsoka asked tentatively, tapping his shoulder plate gently. She ran her fingers across his scarred face, his pronounced cheekbones and beautiful lips. “Please…”

His eyelids fluttered open, and Ahsoka breathed a great sigh of relief. “Oh, Rex!” she cried, throwing her arms around him. He patted her back awkwardly. “Uh, what’s going on, Commander?” he asked her.

Tears filled Ahsoka’s eyes at the title.  _ It truly was him _ . “You’re...the only one I’ve been able to free,” she admitted, her head hanging low.

Rex was silent for a moment. “It’s so many more than you think, Ahsoka,” he said, his voice filled with unimaginable pain. “All my brothers, all of us, every single one...we were all told to execute Order 66.”

“Order 66,” Ahsoka echoed, her voice small. “By whom?”

“The Chancellor,” Rex said. “Or, maybe...I think now, he’s the Emperor.”

“Oh,  _ kriff _ ,” was all Ahsoka could say. Rex nodded, his expression filled with understanding. “I knew, all this time, and I did absolutely nothing.” His face screwed painfully, as it had when he’d been about to shoot Ahsoka. Guilt. Regret. Misery.

“You did what you could, Rex,” Ahsoka comforted him, running a hand over his blonde buzzcut. “And I--”

“You did, too,” he insisted. “But I don’t think the two of us can save any more. Even if they are my...b-brothers.”

“What about Jesse?” Ahsoka asked, alarmed. “Surely, he deserves to be free? We can’t leave him like this!”

Rex gulped, avoiding her gaze. “I want to save him as much as you do, Commander,” he intoned, low and tight. “I just don’t know if we can.”

“Well, I do,” Ahsoka replied, her voice final. “We just need some sort of distraction to find him.”

Rex looked at her, eyes sharp and apprehensive. “There’s one person here who can do what we need.”

“And who’s that?”

“You know.”

She did know. Maul was still imprisoned on the lower level, bound in chains fit to hold a former Sith Lord. If they allowed him to escape, he’d be able to distract the clones until they could find Jesse. And yet...Ahsoka couldn’t loose him on the galaxy like that. “No,” she said firmly. “There must be another way.” She tilted Rex’s beaten face upwards until they were at eye level. “You’re a formidable Commander and Captain, Rex. You’ve been in battle longer than anyone on this ship. If there’s anyone who can defeat them, it’s you. And I’ll find Jesse.”

“I--” His voice cracked suddenly, eyes brimming with tears. “Ahsoka...they are my family, my brothers...I can’t fight them.”

Ahsoka was silent for a moment. “I will, then,” she finally replied. She closed her eyes and held Rex’s hands, reaching out into the Force. She saw identical faces, battle-scarred and determined, loyal until the moment when they were forced to turn on their superiors. Every moment of their lives a lie. In the end, created for one purpose.

She saw Jesse there, his head tattooed with the sign of the Republic, an image he’d always bore proudly. His eyes were narrowed, blaster raised as he slinked along a corridor in the ship, making his way ever closer to Rex and Ahsoka. He would find them before they found him.

“Rex!” Ahsoka almost shouted, her eyes flying open. “Jesse, he’s coming this way. Can you--?”

Rex nodded tersely, hopping off the med table and clenching the scalpel in his fist. “When we meet again, I’ll have my brother back at my side,” Rex said. “Now, you go find us a way out of here.”

Ahsoka grinned and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. Rex’s expression softened, and his eyes bade her the same message of goodwill the Jedi had always wished each other:  _ May the Force be with you _ .

Ahsoka ran from the medbay, her heart thumping in her chest, lekku swaying. She headed straight for the hangar, ducking to avoid blasts that were trained directly at her. Her lightsabers swung with intention, blocking them--sending them back to their source. The refracted blasts hit the clones in the chest, killing them in brief moments. Ahsoka squeezed her eyes tight and sent a feeling up to the Force for them, every defense for herself a chance that an innocent soldier could die.

Her sabers swished and twirled in her grip as Ahsoka fled across the halls of the ship, booking it for the hangar. It was only two meters away...one...Ahsoka felt something under her boot and she tripped, falling flat on her face. “Ouch,” she mumbled, for a second losing track of where she was. Then the sound of blaster fire registered and Ahsoka shot up, shoulders shaking.

A blast hit her ankle and she cried out in pain, doubling over again. She noticed that she’d tripped over the leg of Shortstack, a clone named as such for his stunted growth. He’d only been allowed to live--and subsequently let into the 501st legion--at Anakin’s behest, against the wishes of the Kaminoan officials. Now, he was dead. Just as Ahsoka was about to be.

“Goodbye, Tano,” sneered the clone who’d shot her. Behind his helmet, painted to match Ahsoka’s orange and white coloring, she was sure his face was filled with an anger that wasn’t his, only forced into him through programming. She couldn’t tell who he was without seeing his face, so she asked him.

“Trooper, please remove your helmet.” It was worth a try, anyways. She couldn’t run, not to mention even stand, and this was her only defense.

A laugh crackled out from behind the clone’s visor. “You’re about to die, Jedi. Maybe you want to be praying to the Force.”

“That’s not how the Force works,” Ahsoka told him, struggling over the words. “Why are you even doing this?” She knew, of course. But perhaps he didn’t.

“I’m Axis, if that’s what you were wondering,” the trooper said stiffly, bringing his blaster to her chest. “But it doesn’t matter.”

_ Axis _ . Ah, yes. New to the legion, impulsive, just like her former master had been. “Axis, I’m not a Jedi,” Ahsoka pleaded.

“You use  _ lightsabers _ ,” Axis spat, knocking her sideways, causing her to fall on top of Shortstack’s body. She scrambled upwards, her blue blades ignited in a cross-shape, protecting her from Axis.

“I  _ used  _ to be a Jedi,” Ahsoka retorted, using the same words she’d said to Rex when he’d been under the inhibitor chip’s influence. “I’m on your side, Axis.” She hoped that the usage of his name would bring him back to reality. “I can help you!”

“Fine,” Axis agreed, lowering his blaster. “But if this is a trick, I’ll shoot you on the spot.”

Ahsoka nodded and held out her hand after clicking her lightsabers to her hip belt. Axis took it and helped her to her feet, allowing her to lean on his shoulder.

At that moment, Rex and Jesse came running around the corner, eyes wide when they noticed Axis and Ahsoka. “How--?” Rex began.

Ahsoka shot him a warning look. Rex immediately closed his mouth, eyes saying what he couldn’t:  _ How are you not dead? Have you taken out his chip? _ Ahsoka shook her head slightly and gestured with her arm toward the hangar through the blast doors. “Let’s go,” she said.

“Where are we going? What are you doing?” Axis barked, still a leaning post for Ahsoka. He shifted his weight to point his blaster at her. “I said--”

“Don’t worry!” Ahsoka interrupted hurriedly. “I’m taking us to scout out Jedi that may have escaped.” As Axis sighed in relief, she caught Rex’s eye. He wore an expression of blank shock, Jesse mirroring him. Ahsoka winked out of the view of Axis and hobbled towards the nearest ship in the hangar. Though little more in size than an escape pod, it could fit all four of them and at least had navigational skills.

Rex stepped up onto the ramp, Jesse following. The men wore expressions of intense sadness, and Ahsoka knew she’d never truly be able to understand their suffering. Their brothers would be phased out slowly as time moved on. Many of them likely were killed by the Jedi. And worst of all, they’d lost the most important thing, the thing that made them more than droids or what people thought of when they heard the word “clone.” They’d lost their humanity and their sense of self; they were mindless and under the control of a single Sith Lord.

_ Infinite sadness. _ It was a phrase Ahsoka remembered from a conversation that Anakin had recalled between him and Obi-Wan. It was used, perhaps, not in the same context, but how applicable it was now. The clones who survived, who would be able to understand what they’d done, were destined for infinite sadness. It was a broken bond of trust and brotherhood and loyalty--all the things that had mattered most to them, at least from what Ahsoka knew. She couldn’t imagine how Rex and Jesse were feeling right now.

But there was a more immediate problem. Axis was not aware that Ahsoka, in fact, was  _ not  _ leaving the ship to hunt down Jedi, but in fact was escaping the very order which he was following. She needed to sedate him quickly before he could realize the true situation. Then, they’d need to remove the chip. Maybe this time, Jesse could do the honors, since Rex and Ahsoka already had. Ahsoka, at least, had no desire to cut open someone’s head again. Although she’d managed it with Rex, her adrenaline had worn off a bit, and though she was not squeamish, she felt nauseated at the thought.

Once they were all safe inside the small ship, Ahsoka took to the pilot’s seat, Rex at her side. They rose off the hangar floor, miraculously avoiding the blasts of the clone troopers below them, who’d finally noticed the escape. Then they were off. Ahsoka tapped into random coordinates in the Outer Rim; there were so many unnamed planets there--planets that had never caught the attention of the Republic or Separatists--that she was sure they’d be able to find sanctuary somehow, even without a direct course.

The ship shot into hyperspace silently, and Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief.

“Where are we going?” Axis asked, his arms crossed in front of him. “Have you sensed a Jedi with the Force, or something?”

“Yes.” The lie came quickly and easily. One simple word. “There were still some left in the Outer Rim sieges.”

“...Right,” Axis murmured, his eyes sharp. He’d removed his helmet now, and Ahsoka could see that his hair was longer than most clones, albeit shaved down one side in an odd pattern that Ahsoka didn’t recognize. His young face--a shiny, Rex would call him--was surprisingly lined slightly.  _ He was older than his years _ , she realized.  _ And so was she _ . They’d all grown up to fast in this war, this war that had only ever been a sham in a much larger plan.

Jesse caught Ahsoka’s eye from across the cockpit. “Hey, um, Ahsoka,” he called to her. “I was wondering if I should, uh--check Axis for any injuries. Unless you already have, of course.”

“I haven’t,” Ahsoka replied, catching his meaning and returning it. “Could you? I’m rather...squamish with that sort of thing.” She wasn’t, of course, and Jesse knew this. But she was thankful for his discreteness as he led Axis from the cockpit, leaving Ahsoka alone with Rex.

“That was some quick-thinking, Commander,” he commended her, smiling a little. She saw him attempt a full-on grin and subsequently fail, heart not in the gesture. Rex’s lips squeezed together and his eyes fell to his hands, which tapped rapidly on the dash. “I know there’s nothing more we could have done,” Rex said, “but I still feel like I failed them.”

“You were so brave,” Ahsoka responded, voice low and soft as she leaned toward him and let him lean his jaw into her hand. “You  _ are  _ so brave.”

“Not as much as you,” he replied, brushing a hand across her lips. He had removed his hand plates and gloves, so now his human skin met hers of Togrutan origin, the feeling sending an electric pulse through Ahsoka. She felt her lips part at his touch, and their mouths approach each other cautiously, the recycled air of the ship filled with unspoken tension.

“Earlier,” Rex murmured, barely a millimeter away, “you said...you loved me.”

“I did. I do,” Ahsoka whispered back, her body leaving her seat and placing itself upon Rex, her arms wrapping around him and pulling him closer. “I know we’ve been close for a long while, and because of the war, we never really got to express that,” she continued softly, tracing a finger down the side of his cheek. “But you’ve always been there for me, and I meant it.”

Rex stared at her with an awed countenance, his eyes boring into hers. “You don’t think--I’m too old for you?”

“You’re technically younger than me,” Ahsoka laughed.

“You know what I mean,” Rex shot back, humor in his gaze, though tinted with lingering sadness.

Ahsoka nodded. “I don’t care,” she admitted, the truth feeling free and unburdening. “Besides, with everything else going on?” She gestured generally to the ship, hyperspace, the back area where Jesse was working on Axis. “We’ve got to protect each other.”

Thoughts and memories came to her, unbidden and unwanted. Anakin, smoldering in flames. Obi-Wan, most likely killed in Order 66. All the Jedi--dead. Everyone she truly cared about--dead. Except for Rex. Miraculously,  _ he  _ of all people was still there throughout the chaos, pinned beneath her weight in the copilot’s seat.  _ Happy  _ to be with her, despite everything.

“We do,” Rex said, a hint of a sultry tone in his voice, unlike how he’d ever sounded. Ahsoka found that she liked it. Their lips finally met, slow at first--then Rex’s tongue was in her mouth and heat was flaring somewhere below her abdomen. She regretted that he wore all this armor, but something about it was still rather comforting; a hard, solid surface in the mess of the galaxy.

Before she knew it, her top--designed to match the forces of Mandalore--was unzipped, revealing her top undergarments. Rex held her gently, her lithe form arching to match his touch. “Commander,” he nearly growled, eyes closed as his nose trailed her form.

A crash from the back broke them apart. Ahsoka hurriedly replaced her clothing, head hot and face flushed. “Jesse? Axis?” she called, leaping from Rex’s lap.

“I’m alright!” came a familiar voice, though Ahsoka couldn’t be sure which of the clones had said it. They emerged together, seeming not to notice Rex’s embarrassed posture and Ahsoka’s heavy breathing.

“I am so sorry, Ahsoka--um, Commander Tano,” Axis said. “I didn’t realize--”

“It’s alright, trooper,” she replied. “It happens to the best of us.” It was such an absurd statement that they all broke out into raucous laughter, Ahsoka with them. Yet...there was a hidden feeling in the back of her mind, a piece of a vision she’d seen and almost discounted. It had something to do with Anakin.

Ahsoka dug deep into the Force, stretching her mind to connect with her former master’s, and felt a stab of sudden, acute physical pain. And  _ heat _ . He was burning, that was right. She  _ had  _ seen this. She knew he’d turned to the Dark Side, but she hadn’t had time to consider it all--not with Order 66 occurring right after her vision on the bridge.

She knew immediately what she had to do. In her head, there was only one option. “Chart a course to Mustafar,” Ahsoka ordered, hardly daring to breathe. Anakin needed her, and she would come to his aid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! I always appreciate kudos as well as comments of praise/feedback! stay safe everyone and see you in the next chapter! (which will probably be posted later today or tomorrow)


	3. master & apprentice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka, Rex, Jesse, and Axis go to rescue Anakin on Mustafar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hi, this is my second chapter for this fic in one day! (wow.) please enjoy!

The small ship exited hyperspace, entering a system dominated by a red, angry planet. Mustafar lay ahead, smoldering and burning, a complete wasteland. Ahsoka felt apprehension, and not solely through the Force. She could sense that Anakin was still alive, but for how long? And surely, Obi-Wan had felt this?

 _No--wait._ He had to have been killed already, no? She reached out for what seemed to be the millionth time into the continuity of life that was the Force, and sensed him there, but only just. Was he in danger? And where was he, if Anakin, his former padawan, was on the verge of death?

Ahsoka maneuvered into the atmosphere. The men around her were silent, seeming to sense the gravity of the situation. They all respected Anakin; Rex, perhaps, as much as she did, and none of them knew how they would find him...dead or alive.

Red and orange lava flowed along the planet’s deep crevices, carving each canyon even deeper. Ahsoka lowered the ship onto stable ground. A little ways away she could hear the groans of a man in pain. _Anakin_ , she thought to herself, the bond between them as Master and Padawan never stronger.

“Quickly!” she called to the men. She was glad that in the hyperspace travel, before Axis had gotten his chip removed, that she had been able to bandage her foot wound. It had already begun to heal. They followed her at a brisk pace, leaping over scalding orange puddles filled with viscous lava. Up ahead, a stubby figure lay on the ground, his body emitting smoke, charred beyond repair. _Was there anything she could do?_

Ahsoka knelt by Anakin and placed her arms under him. He let out a terrible shriek of pain as she and the clones lifted him and carried him back to the ship. It would now be an even tighter fit with five of them, but Anakin needed the medical attention.

“Master, can you hear me?” Ahsoka asked, her voice barely more than a whimper. She cleared her throat; she had to be strong. Rex had lifted the ship into takeoff not a moment too soon; another vessel was approaching from the horizon, bearing the noticeable seal of the Chancellor--no, the Emperor. According to Ahsoka’s vision, he was a Sith Lord-- _the_ Sith Lord. They had to escape the planet quickly, as Ahsoka was sure Palpatine would be able to sense them, and by them, she meant _her_.

Ahsoka barely noticed that their ship was being fired at, albeit poorly--the Emperor’s transport was not suited to battle. She was too busy huddling over Anakin, sensing around the medbay for a droid to help her...but there was none. Anakin’s limbs were gone--cut off, oddly enough, by a _lightsaber_ \--but that was the least of her worries. His insides were surely too damaged, _kriff--his lungs_ , she thought frantically. 

There was nothing that anyone could have done for him through normal means; she would have to use the Force. Ahsoka had never heard of this being done before, but if the Force connected all living beings, surely, she could channel and manipulate the direction of the energy? It was all theoretical, of course, but now it was her only option.

Ahsoka placed one orange hand on the charred flesh of Anakin’s chest; his robes had all but rotted away. She breathed in and out deeply as she’d first been taught by Master Yoda, her chest rising and falling excruciatingly slowly. She fell deeper into her surroundings, though layers of imperceptible murkiness, lower and lower and lower until she could hear Anakin’s heart beating irregularly, the sound echoing through her montrals. She let the Force flow through her own limbs and into his, feeling his heartbeat approach normalcy. Still, he was barely breathing, and every breath was labored and more shallow as the seconds passed.

“Anakin…” she felt herself say. The word festered in the silence with no one to hear it. “Wake up…”

Through her concentration, Ahsoka felt Anakin’s breathing stop. “NO!” she cried, eyes flying open against her better interests. Anakin lay there, still for a brief moment, before his eyes creaked open and he let out a shaky breath. He was unrecognizable, skin red and inflamed, but marred by dark ash and basalt-enriched soil. He lifted his head and tried to speak, mouth opening and closing, before collapsing back to the med table.

“Shh--don’t try to talk,” Ahsoka said, her hands gesticulating madly in the air for fear of touching him and causing him more pain. After a few moments of silence, Anakin’s eyes squeezing shut several times, Ahsoka bit. “Rex and Jesse and on this ship with me, along with Axis, the new guy. Is the war over?” she asked. “Just nod or shake,” Ahsoka added when Anakin opened his mouth again. He nodded, misery to his gaze, clashing with his meaning. Ahsoka knew he must be upset about it all--the Emporer, his turning to the Dark Side, Order 66…

“I at least hope that the younglings survived,” she whispered, more to herself than anything. Anakin heard this, and his eyes fluttered closed, an odd gesture to see with his eyelashes missing. He turned his head slowly, one way and the other, a vague shake of _no_.

“What?” Ahsoka cried in response. “The clones would never--”

“I killed them. I killed them all.”

His voice was low and grating and harsh to the ear. She hadn’t expected him to be able to speak beyond moans of pain. And his words...Ahsoka willed them to be false, but when she searched in the Force, nothing was there for her but the truth. Anakin, as a Sith Lord, had killed the youngest, most vulnerable Jedi, the ones most unable to defend themselves. “You’re sick,” she told her former master harshly, loud words echoing off the medbay walls. “I can’t believe you.”

A jarring sound met Ahsoka’s montrals. It was a breath from Anakin, guttural, and final. She’d done her best to save him, and she knew, with more effort, that she probably could, but was not sure that she wanted to. Was he indeed remorseful, or had it been a ruse? “Goodbye, Anakin,” Ahsoka mumbled, tears in her eyes, disgust at him and at herself pulsing through her veins.

“Th-thank you, Snips,” he muttered, at a level just loud enough to hear him. The nickname made her cry harder, and she groaned in frustration and guilt and anguish. “I’m so sorry,” Ahsoka whispered back, turning away. She wasn’t even sure if he’d heard her.

She listened as he struggled to hold onto his last moments of life, and she sensed the millisecond when he finally let it all go. “Padmé…” he whispered softly. “I failed you.” Ahsoka heard the unspoken words as well: _But at least we’ll be together_. When she turned back to look at him, his body was gone, leaving small piles of ash behind.

***

Back in the cockpit, Jesse and Axis were playing an odd game where they tried to spot shapes in the hyperspace clouds. It was rather difficult, as they could only view them for a few milliseconds before the ship shot past. Rex could tell that they were worried and stressed, and so was he, but this seemingly mindless game proved a worthy distraction. He watched the navigator on the dash slowly count how many parsecs they’d traveled, rising with each second.

He knew when Ahsoka emerged from the medbay, though she was completely silent. The rustles and low moans of General Skywalker had ceased, and Jesse and Axis quieted as well.

“He’s dead,” Ahsoka said bluntly. She sat down heavily on one of the seats in the cockpit, breaths coming quickly. Her eyes were dry as she made eye contact with Rex, her gaze expressionless and cryptic. A moment passed, and then she was sobbing, loudly and messily, head in her hands, hunched over in the seat. Axis stood awkwardly to the side as Rex and Jesse approached her gently. Jesse knelt down beside the young Togruta, arms wrapping around her tightly, and she lifted her head slightly. Rex caught her weak smile.

“Can you...pilot for a bit?” Ahsoka asked Jesse, eyes swollen with tears. “I’d like to talk to Rex.”

“Of course,” Jesse replied. He glanced over at Axis and the two of them sat down in the pilot and co-pilot seats, keeping an eye on the navigator.

Rex followed Ahsoka to the third area of the ship. There was the cockpit, the medbay, and the small place in the back with four cots and a food closet. This was where they sat down on the cold floor, feeling the vibrations of the ship’s engines under them.

“Hold me, my love,” Ahsoka whispered, and Rex did, taking her in his arms and rocking her gently. He felt her warm breath on his arm; he’d removed his armor and now only wore his thin long-sleeved undershirt. Tears leaked from her eyes onto his shoulder, but he didn’t care. Today...he’d lost all but two of his thousands of brothers. She’d lost her mentor and best friend.

Ahsoka let out another sob. “I know I shouldn’t be this upset,” she mumbled, chastising herself. “Attachment isn’t the Jedi way.”

“And you’re not a Jedi,” Rex reminded her. “Besides, you know that rule was...flawed.”

“I know,” she replied. A long silence passed. “It still feels surreal.”

“Yeah,” Rex said. He drew back and lifted her chin with his fingers. Their lips drifted closer, and soon they were touching. Rex felt hot tears sting his face, but he wasn’t sure if they were Ahsoka’s or his own. He felt so lost, so _alone_ , and yet the person he loved most was right here in front of him, and he couldn’t figure out how he felt.

“We’re approaching our destination now!” Axis called to them. “Although...I don’t exactly know where this is.”

Rex stood and held out his hand, helping Ahsoka to her feet. “I set random coordinates!” Rex called back. They walked back to the cockpit to find Jesse pulling the ship out of hyperspace. They could see the stars again...tiny, bright, brilliant...and the light of a new sun shining through the transparisteel viewport.

Jesse and Axis brought the ship down to a small brown planet on the edge of the system, seemingly uncharted, according to the navigator. It was going to be a new life for all of them. They were broken, but at least they were alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! there will be one more chapter, but it's more of an epilogue, so if you want to stop reading here, you can, although there's kind of a big (fluffy) thing that will happen in the next chapter and make it a happier ending.
> 
> as always, please leave kudos or comment if you haven't! stay safe:)


	4. the end of an age

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka receives a comm from Obi-Wan about recent events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the final chapter!! thank all of you so much if you have stuck with this fic past the first chapter for all the angst feels and as of this update, _fluff!_ (omg!) I'll be writing a part two soon (see end notes for details) so stay tuned! hope you enjoy!

Three days later, once she’d gotten out of the jetlag, Ahsoka took the ship up into space again. They’d set up camp in the small primitive village by a river, but they had no way to get somewhere if they needed to, because the fuel was running low. Ahsoka was going to find the nearest charging station and refill some extra tanks as well, just in case anything ever happened.

She was just about to give up on the system as a whole when she came upon an incoming signal beeping from the commlink on her wrist. Ahsoka frowned slightly and sat up straight, accepting it apprehensively. When she did so, she was pleasantly surprised to see Obi-Wan Kenobi’s holo transmitting there.

“Obi-Wan!” she cried, bringing her free hand to her mouth. “You...survived.”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan replied, brow tensed. He looked as if he wanted to say more on the subject, but kept his mouth shut. Ahsoka was glad; she wasn’t sure if she could take more heartbreak anyway. He continued on a different vein instead. “I don’t know where you are or how you survived yourself. But I need to tell you something--it may surprise you.”

“What is it?” she asked carefully.

“Padmé was pregnant with twins,” Obi-Wan explained. “She gave birth about an hour ago.” He paused, brows scrunched in pain. “...She’s dead, Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka’s heart plummeted in her chest.  _ How much more could she take? _ She’d thought that Obi-Wan would skip news of any further deaths... _ this must have been important, then _ . And she had a feeling that she knew where this conversation would head. “What about the children?” she asked nervously.

“Luke and Leia,” Obi-Wan said sadly. “I organized for Luke to be sent to his aunt and uncle on Tatooine. It’s unlikely that Palpatine will ever search there since it’s far removed...if he even knows…” Obi-Wan trailed off softly, stroking his beard. He glanced at Ahsoka again and cleared his throat, pushing back what Ahsoka suspected were tears at the whole situation.  _ Wait _ , she thought,  _ did he even know about Anakin? _

Before she could ask, Obi-Wan began speaking again. “I was hoping I could send Leia to you. I don’t know if you are alone, or perhaps something else, but I do have a backup plan for her--”

“I’ll raise her,” Ahsoka said at once. “I’ve found a place to live with Rex and Jesse and another clone. We’re living with primitives, so we’re under the radar. It’s even more remote than Tatooine.” She paused, thinking. “I don’t even know what the planet is called.”

Obi-Wan still looked skeptical. “If you think that you can handle her...and if you think she’ll have--loving parents--”

“She will,” Ahsoka said immediately. She felt a smile creep up her face at the thought of having Rex as her husband, the two of them raising Leia together with Jesse and Axis as uncles… Ahsoka knew that she was rather young for a mother, only on the verge of eighteen, and the thought was slightly saddening. She’d grown up too fast, her childhood had been stolen from her...now she was on to raising a child of her own. “Thank you, Master Obi-Wan,” she finally mumbled. “It means a lot that you are asking this of me. I--can’t wait. Truly.”

He smiled back and shook his head slightly. “You don’t have to call me “Master” anymore, Ahsoka. I’m not a Jedi...the Jedi are dead.”

“I know, but still,” Ahsoka replied stubbornly. But she had no desire to mourn her fallen peers at the moment. That would come later, when she was alone, or perhaps curled in front of Rex, his strong arms wrapped around her, protecting her from their mutual nightmares…

Obi-Wan seemed to sense her misery, even from across the galaxy, wherever he was. He pressed on. “Where should we meet to get Leia to you?”

“Well, you know I’m in the Outer Rim, of course,” Ahsoka responded. “How about Tatooine? When you drop off Luke with his relatives, I’ll join you to meet him, get Leia, and say goodbye to you.”

Obi-Wan nodded. The comm ended, leaving Ahsoka alone in the ship. She slumped to her seat and headed for Tatooine, where she would stop at the Tosche Station to fuel the ship before meeting Obi-Wan.

***

Obi-Wan was waiting for her when she arrived. He stood by a small mound of boulders at the coordinates he’d transmitted to her through her commlink wearing a dark robe pulled low over his head. Ahsoka was wearing similar garb, though it was much more difficult to cover her montrals. When Obi-Wan saw her, he waved--an awkward movement while holding two babies--and approached her slowly.

“Thank you, Obi-Wan,” Ahsoka said to him, taking Leia in her arms, the baby who was crying. The other, Luke, was sleeping peacefully in his swaddling blanket, a bit of drool slipping down his chin. “We’ll take good care of her.”

He nodded. “I’ve got to take little Luke to his relatives now,” he sighed ruefully. “I’d raise and train him myself, but I’m sure that the Empire must be keeping tabs on possible living Jedi Masters. You were only a padawan when you left, so you should be safe, at least for now.”

Ahsoka looked at him, feeling an odd expression crawl its way into her chest. “Did you say--train?”

“I did,” Obi-Wan replied, his eyes tinted with regret. “The Empire will have to be overthrown someday, won’t it? The galaxy will need a hero. I’m sure both of the twins will carry the skill of their parents.”

The statement sent a chill through Ahsoka. “Speaking of Anakin--” she began.

“I know he’s dead,” Obi-Wan cut her off. “I did it.”

“What?” Ahsoka asked, astonished. “He was alive! I found him on Mustafar...but I let him--I let him--” She squeezed her eyes shut, not even willing to think the words.

“So did I,” whispered Obi-Wan in the fading light of Tatooine’s suns. “I thought he died there, but I suppose not.”

“Either way, he’s gone,” Ahsoka said bluntly. “For better or for worse.”

They looked at each other for a long moment. They’d lost Anakin, the man that bound them together, and an age was ending--the Age of Heroes. But the Skywalker blood would live on in these twins that they each held, ready to bring justice when the time came. Ahsoka would make sure that Leia could be trained in one way or another. For now--

“Goodbye, Obi-Wan,” she said. “May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you, Ahsoka,” he replied with a nod. The former Jedi Master turned and headed briskly off into the distance, and Ahsoka went back to her ship with Leia.

***

Ahsoka reached the far-off planet that she would now call home when the sun there was high in the sky. Rex was hammering a metal spike into a wooden structure, while Jesse and Axis sawed planks. They were finally building a house. It felt odd; none of them had lived in a house before. They’d all lived in barracks their whole lives, always part of something greater--an army, an Order, and now, they finally had domesticity for the first time.

“It’s going to be three bedrooms and a common area,” Rex explained when he caught Ahsoka’s stare. “One room for the baby, one for Jesse and Axis, and one for you and me.”

“We’re going--to sh-share?” stuttered Ahsoka, eyes widening. Rex gave her a confused look, tilting his head. “Of course, my love.”

Right. Of course. They were raising a child together; that made them basically wedded. “Yeah,” Ahsoka said when she realized that he was still looking at her, “About that...we should have a ceremony.”

“Yes!” Jesse called from where he was cutting wood, his saw waving in the air. Looking alarmed, Axis tapped the other clone’s shoulder and they looked at each other and laughed.

“We can get help from the villagers,” Ahsoka continued. “They’re so happy to have us here--we’re like celebrities to them--it’ll be like a party!”

“Sure,” Rex replied in his formal manner. Ahsoka shot him a look and he softened. “Yes, Ahsoka. I’d love that.”

“You’re a great husband already, doing whatever I say,” teased Ahsoka, approaching him and placing a kiss on his cheek. He grinned back at her with adoration in his eyes. “I love you so much,” Rex said softly, his hand interlocking with hers. She shifted her hold on Leia so that they could share this moment, then let go.

“I love you too,” Ahsoka whispered. She felt so lucky to be here, with him, alive and safe. She had the opportunity to begin her life again, totally different from what she’d planned or expected--or perhaps, what her parents had planned or expected--and she was grateful beyond words.

Ahsoka smiled at Rex and headed to the low tent that the men had set up the previous day. She lay Leia inside on her cloak, allowing the child some reprieve from the hot sun. The girl was still crying, but she quieted after a few moments of gentle cooing, albeit not completely. When Ahsoka stepped back outside, Leia was loud once more, but Ahsoka ignored it; little Leia had to adapt like the rest of them.

She gathered supplies and tools in her arms and crouched beside her love, beginning on the foundations of their future home. She would cry and mourn later on, of course, and there would be days when she knew she would remember it all and not be able to handle it. But that is how life worked, after all.

Ahsoka silently thanked Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé for everything they’d taught her and moved on. The Jedi Order had served her well, indeed. But it was of an old age. The new one began here, with three brothers, a girl, and her daughter, on a faraway planet, beginning a life of peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading this lil fic! I'll be writing further parts as one-shots of their domestic life/memories/comfort/adventures/training in the near future!  
> comments & kudos are much appreciated!! stay safe<3

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading and please leave a comment and some kudos below if you liked it! I always appreciate praise/feedback and see you in the next update (may the 4th, probably)! stay safe:)


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